A retrovirus designated Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is believed to be the causative agent of the complex disease termed Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and is a member of the lentivirus family of retroviruses (M. A. Gonda, F. Wong-Staal NR. C. Gallo, "Sequence Homology and Morphological Similarity of HTLV III and Visna Virus, A Pathogenic Lentivirus", Science, 227, 173, (1985); and P. Sonigo and N. Alizon, et al., "Nucleotide Sequence of the Visna Lentivirus: Relationship to the AIDS Virus", Cell, 42, 369, (1985)). The HIV virus (also referred to as the AIDS virus) was previously known as or referred to as LAV, HTLV-III, or ARV, and is now designated by HIV-1. Other closely related variants of HIV-1 include HIV-2 and SIV (simian immunodeficiency virus), and mutants thereof.
The complex disease AIDS includes progressive destruction of the immune system and degeneration of the central and peripheral nervous system. The HIV virus appears to preferentially attack helper T-cells (T-lymphocytes or OKT4-bearing T-cells) and also ocher human cells, e.g., certain cells within the brain. The helper T-cells are invaded by the virus and the T-cell becomes an HIV virus producer. The helper T-cells are quickly destroyed and their number in the human being is depleted to such an extent that the body's B-cells as well as other T-cells normally stimulated by helper T-cells no longer function normally or produce sufficient lymphokines and antibodies to destroy the invading virus or other invading microbes.
While the HIV virus does not necessarily cause death per se, it does cause the human's immune system to be so severely depressed that the human falls prey to various other diseases such as herpes, Pneumocistis carinii, toxoplasmosis, cytomegalovirus, Kaposi's sarcoma, and Epstein-Barr virus related lymphonmas among others. These secondary infections are separately treated using other medications as is conventional. Early during infection, humans with HIV virus seem to live on with little or no symptoms, but have persistent infections. Later in the disease, humans suffer mild immune system depression with various symptoms such as weight loss, malaise, fever, and swollen lymph nodes. These syndromes have been called persistent generalized lymphadenopathy syndrome (PGL) and AIDS related complex (ARC) and develop into AIDS.
In all cases, those infected with the AIDS virus are believed to be persistently infective to others. Further, AIDS and AIDS related complex is after some time fatal.
A description of the mechanism by which the virus infects its host is given in an article by R. Yarchoan, and S. Broder, "Development of Antiretroviral Therapy for the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome and Related Disorders", New England Journal of Medicine, 316, 557-564 (Feb. 26, 1987).
Considerable efforts are being directed toward the control of HIV by means of inhibition of the reverse transcriptase of HIV, required for replication of the virus. (V. Merluzzi et al., "Inhibition of the HIV-1 Replication by a Nonnucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor", Science, 25, 1411 (1990)). For example, a currently used therapeutic compound, AZT, is an inhibitor of the viral reverse transcriptase (U.S. Pat. No. 4,724,232). Unfortunately, many of the known compounds suffer from toxicity problems, lack of bioavailability or are short lived in vivo, viral resistance, or combinations thereof.
Therefore it is an object of the invention to provide compounds and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof to inhibit and/or treat HIV and AIDS.
Another object of the present invention is to provide therapeutic formulations that are of value in the inhibition and/or treatment of infection by HIV and the treatment or inhibition of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
Another object is to provide methods for the inhibition and/or treatment of infection by HIV and the resulting acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
Other objects, features, and advantages will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description and claims.